Expert guide to the Turquoise Coast

Where to find the best beaches on Turkey's Turquoise Coast. By our expert, Terry Richardson.

Patara

Patara beach, a few miles northwest of the small but popular resort of Kalkan, is one of the longest and best in the entire Mediterranean.

It may no longer be as wild as in the nineteenth-century (Lycian) tomb-raiding days of Brit Charles Fellows, who wrote of Patara beach “No signs of life were visible but the footsteps of wolves, jackals and hares”, but remains remarkably undeveloped.

Even in high-season it’s possible to find deserted stretches of fine, white sand, complete with tidemark lines of driftwood, shells and other marine detritus.

Patara beach is one of the longest and best in the entire MediterraneanCredit:
Credit: Joana Kruse / Alamy Stock Photo/Joana Kruse / Alamy Stock Photo

You can wade out a long way before reaching deeper waters, making it ideal for kids, though frequent winds (delightfully refreshing on a red-hot July or August day) can bring in body-surfing sized regiments of waves.

Fellow’s crew amazed the local semi-nomadic Turks by playing beach cricket, though today’s foreign visitors, even Brits, are more likely to be spotted swimming or sunbathing.

Access is usually made through the ancient, dune-engulfed Lycian site of Patara costing £3.29; daily April-Oct 8am-7pm; Nov-March 8am-5pm. Pay a little more for a combo site entry and Beachcard which allows you 9 further entries to both site and beach. There are sunbeds (£1.65) and shades (£2.40 for a double) for hire, and there’s a good value beach cafe/bar.

Kabak

The easily accessible beaches at Ölüdeniz, near Fethiye, are packed with sun-worshippers, but Kabak, a few miles to the south-east, receives just a trickle of visitors. The reason? The 30-minute walk to reach it from the village of the same name, which in turn is reached by minibus from Ölüdeniz.

The setting, a sandy beach fronting a densely wooded valley, makes the effort well worthwhile. Your fellow swimmers and sunbathers are likely to be Lycian Way walkers, backpackers camping or staying in tree houses, or tourists on boat-trips from Ölüdeniz.

Phaselis

The £4.39 entry fee to the ruins of Phaselis (daily April-Oct 8am-7pm; Nov-March 8am-5pm), an hour’s drive south-west of Antalya, is enough to put off the casual beachgoer, leaving more room for the discerning. Although the city dates from the seventh century BC, most of the ruins visible today are Roman.

Its three beaches are accessed through dappled pine forestCredit:
Nikolai Sorokin - Fotolia

Its three beaches are accessed through dappled pine forest: the western beach is the sandiest and longest, the eastern one pebbly. Pick of the bunch is between them, a small curved strip of shingle by a delightful bay that was a harbour in ancient times.

Iztuzu

Much favoured by visitors staying in the idyllic riverside resort of Dalyan, and by endangered loggerhead turtles sculling in from the deep blue depths of the Mediterranean to nest, this near three-mile long sweep of fine, hard-packed sand is one of Turkey’s very finest beaches.

This near three-mile long sweep of fine, hard-packed sand is one of Turkey’s very finest beachesCredit:
hsan Gerelman - Fotolia

Although there’s a road, most visitors wisely opt to take one of the regular boats (around £3 return) that putter their way down the pretty, reed-fringed river from Dalyan (a half hour drive north of Dalaman airport). The thirty minute journey allows time to admire the elaborate ancient tombs carved into the cliffs to the west and the abundant wildlife haunting the marshland to the east.

Sun beds and umbrellas (£3.17 for two beds and a shade) are available and the gently sloping beach is ideal for families – though there are warnings not to swim near the river mouth because of strong currents. Conservation measures put in place in 1988 have been successful up to now, and loggerhead numbers have risen. Unfortunately, in late-December 2014 the beach passed from public to private hands. The move caused dismay amongst locals, who fear that İztuzu will be developed, and prompted a flurry of anti-government protests. Brit June Haimoff, a long-time resident in Dalyan, runs the Sea Turtle Conservation Foundation (daily 10am-5pm, free, tel 0252 284 2855; dalyanturtles.com) at the far end of the beach (best reached by car from Dalyan), well-worth a visit if you interested turtles and their conservation.

Çıralı

It’s fortunate that Çıralı is not blessed with a classic sand beach like Iztuzu otherwise, situated just an hour’s drive southwest of booming Antalya, it would be completely swamped with visitors. Those in the know, however, are not put off by the pebbles and come back year after year to enjoy one of the most laid-back beaches in the Med.

Book-ended by rugged, pine-encrusted spurs plunging down into the turquoise waters from the towering Lycian mountains behind, and backed by a straggling hamlet submerged beneath a canopy of citrus orchards, Çıralı’s situation is truly dramatic.

Most people stick to the south-central area of the beach, where you can use sun beds and shades in return for frequenting the simple restaurants behind. The romantic ruins of ancient Olympos are a fifteen minute walk south, the remarkable eternal flames of the Chimera flicker in the pine-forest to the northwest. It’s also a major loggerhead turtle nesting site, and sightings by snorkelers are far from unusual.

Mermerli

Antalya is a big, bustling Mediterranean city of a million-plus people, so it’s a wonderful surprise to find a pretty beach right in its very heart. Tucked away at the foot of the cliffs just south of the old harbour in the traditional walled-quarter of Kaleiçi, tiny Mermerli beach shelves gently into the bay, making it fine for young kids.

It gets very busy in July and August – especially at weekends – so get here early to bag a sun bed and lounger (the £3.40 entry fee includes use of both).There are beach-boys on hand to bring cold drinks and snacks from the attractive restaurant of the same name at the top of the steps, and rocks to swim out to offshore. The views back to historic Kaleiçi, with its traditional red-roofed Ottoman houses be-decked with bougainville, slender minarets and ancient fortifications, are a delight.